If you have found yourself searching for practical and actionable ways to grow your cannabis brand online this blog post should help. While marketing a CBD or cannabis company does present a unique set of challenges, for example you could be up against regulatory bodies and those against cannabis, there are still some powerful ways to grow your brand online. So, if you’re looking to spread cannabis education, attract a loyal fan base, draw more visitors to your website, increase sales and impact even more lives, keep reading for our top 7 cannabis marketing tips.
- Find your cannabis niche
For example, do you want your message to make the most impact? Then find your cannabis marketplace niche. Whilst some consider cannabis to already be a niche product, this industry is larger than you think, and a lot of CBD and cannabis companies make the mistake of going too broad with their branding. The result of this is that with such a wide target market, they end up targeting no one. In order for your marketing efforts to be the most effective you need to focus your attention. What this will do is save you time and money.
- Establish a strong brand identity
A strong brand identity is equally important to developing your niche. Your brand identity is your story, it’s what makes your company unique and stand out from others. Your logo, mission statement, values customer experience, style, tone and personality should all be considered. Your brand identity is really showcasing who you are what you stand for and what you have to offer. It is essentially what makes a potential customer choose you, over an alternative company.
- Identify your business goals
To build a successful company and deliver successful marketing, you need to start with clear goals. You should be able to answer the question, what do you want to achieve? The more specific you can be the better. Something that you may find beneficial is the practice of smart goal setting.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant
T – Timely
A big advantage of this practice is that you are not only identifying what you want to achieve, but you’re also taking into consideration is this relevant to my business mission. With this method you are holding yourself and your team accountable. This can help you fight procrastination and stay on task.
- Speaking directly to your target audience’s needs
One important question to consider here is, when sharing a social media post or online blog post, who are you talking to? It is important to understand exactly who your target audience is. One tip is to imagine you are writing to a single person, instead of a whole group. Personal copy is more likely to grab the reader’s attention and makes them want to learn more. Understanding who your audience is, what their needs are and how you can help them is key. However, the second part to consider is exactly how you can help them, what problems they are currently facing and how can you solve it, whether entertainment or education people will respond.
- Optimize your cannabis website and social media channels
If you want to build and influential cannabis market brand, it is vital to have a website and social media strategy in your online cannabis marketing game plan. Many businesses rely heavily on one social media platform for example Instagram, as they feel hesitant to spend the money and time on their website and other social media channels, because it feels like too much of their audience is on Instagram. As a result, they’re focusing almost 100% of their attention on one channel.
We also know that CBD and cannabis brands are still being continuously targeted, so at the end of the day social media is just one tool, but you must remain diverse. A website is a must and you must be active in at least three social media channels. You do not need a presence on every channel, only those that will most benefit you. However, a strong web presence and social media strategy is key as it is risky to have so much of your business dependent on a single source.
- Share fresh content consistently
The amount that your CBD or cannabis brand will grow online will depend on your ability to share original content. The brands that are seriously making an impact are providing real value to others. So, you must consider, what unique perspective can you bring to the conversation and also how do you best communicate, whether through the written word, video, illustration, design, you know yourself best. You must be honest with yourself and decipher how you will best connect with your audience, from chatting on videos to telling a story with photos.
You need to identify your strengths and then show up for your community daily, from writing a helpful blog post that addresses your customers most frequently asked questions, filming a video that shows your latest product in use or draw a graphic showing how CBD works in the body. Most importantly just start!
Try not to fall into the trap of perfection and but don’t start sharing random content with your audience that leaves them feeling scattered. Self-awareness plus clear goals is going to help you overcome this and be more intentional and more effective with your marketing. Ensure you focus on what is right for your business, not someone else’s. What are the things you excel at that you know are working, with any other tasks that you may be struggling with look for ways to begin outsourcing?
- Engage your community
Your ultimate goal should be to build a little active and engaged cannabis community, to do this you must show up for your audience first. Lots of bloggers and marketers talk about engagement, yet they’re not even responding to the comments and followers who are interacting with three. With such a focus on expanding their following, they lose site of the community that’s right in front of them. If someone is taking time out of their day to respond to your business you should be grateful and respond to help build a community. Between 10 to 15 minutes a day at least should be time spent on building your community. When people feel that you are there for them and you are offering real value, they will support you.